Glass
by Courtanie
Summary: To most, fairies are nothing more than a tall tale. To Kenny, their world is starting to merge with his own, and he'll have to team up with a rogue fairy to stop their magic from being completely wiped out. AU, slash likely to occur later on. M for mature situations and violence.


_**A/N: Hey dere, Kiddos! Trying my hand at yet another farfetched supernatural story. I'm really pumped for this one, though =u=**_

_**Let's hope I stick with it, hm? lol, enjoy, Guys~**_

* * *

He never could pinpoint exactly where, when, or how his fascination took place, but he never really cared to. He knew that regardless of these factors, it was a truth of himself that he could never escape.

He only distinctively remembered catching fireflies in jars on a particularly warm summers night when he was about six years old. "To make night lights," he'd told his parents, running outside with empty mason and pickle jars, slamming the lid down on top of any swarm of prey that he could get. He knew that they couldn't afford the electric bill that month, and, as any child would, he came up with his own solutions.

He'd always loved the glow that they threw in his direction. It was a calming, warm spark of light in the dead of dark. He had found that they were particularly common in the woods out far past their home. His parents would drive him there, then park and look up at the night sky as he ventured off. Never far enough so that they couldn't hear him, that was their rule, and he stuck to it like glue. But they never could hear him in the mess that was his own wonder and fascination.

He longed to live as they did; silent in the day, but at night, not a soul could escape the sounds of their light. Fireflies to him were the creatures of happiness, of showing that even the tiniest of creatures could produce something that all the world could find enjoyable. Typical happy-go-lucky pandering from a young child, of course, but as it always is, to him, it was prothetic and astonishing.

However, on this particular night, he found something that was unlike the others. He'd dubbed it The Queen of the Fireflies. Surrounded by yellow and green hues, it shone a bright, luminescent lilac. Unlike the other fireflies, it didn't casually fly away. In fact, it stayed at level with Kenny's jar, following it's glint as it fumbled in his hands.

Being the curious tyke as he was, the rules bound by his parents vanished in the reflection of purple bouncing off of his wide pupils. He trailed the Queen deep into the forest, slowly clambering over fallen limbs as quietly as his short legs would allow him to do.

He knew that for the most part, fireflies were slow to approachers, but this one seemed to have a tendency to dart from place to place within the cluster, hiding behind the most populated areas of light-givers. He bit his lip, the jar in one hand and the metal lid in the other. He crept up slowly to where he could see a faint lilac light behind the mess of gold.

"_I got ya now_," he whispered, leaping forward and swinging the jar upwards through the mess. His eyes followed the purple light until he found it in the middle of his jar. A gleam caught his eye as he slammed the metal lid down overtop of it and brought it up to himself with a wide grin. He watched as the light flew around in a panic, clinging against the sides of the glass trying to figure out its imprisonment.

He watched curiously as the fellow fireflies that he caught didn't react as such, calmly floating around in their jar amongst each other, doing nothing but wallowing in quiet captivity. He slowly lifted the lid of the jar at a small angle, keeping his eye on the Queen in case she tried to float out with her followers. The others slowly drifted out, but she made no such effort, hurrying to the bottom of the jar and darting around the edges. As soon as the others were out and back among the masses, he capped the jar once more and twisted it shut, running his fingers over the holes he's stabbed out in the top for air.

"What's wrong, Miss Firefly?" he asked, lifting it up so he was eye-leveled with the creature. "I won't hurt you," he assured her, watching her continue to dart around in a hurry.

His ears perked as a distinct "_Kenny!" _was heard in the distance.

"Oh shoot," he muttered. "Comin', Ma!" he shouted, placing the jar inside of his light sweater and hanging on to it as he ran through the woods back to where he knew that his mother would be waiting for him. His little fingers tightened around the clothed jar, knowing that what he caught that night was something special. Something that maybe no one else had ever seen. After all, no one ever talked about the Queen Firefly in school!

He ran up through the edge of the clearing up to his parents who were waiting for him. "Kenneth James McCormick," his mother lectured, "What have we told you about staying close?"

"I could still hear ya," he kicked at the ground sheepishly.

"Well it's getting late," his dad yawned and stretched, "Let's get home and get some shut eye." The three of them walked up towards the old rusted truck and hopped in. His mom turned around and smiled softly at Kenny.

"Didja catch any good ones?" she asked.

He hesitated before shaking his head. "Nah. I guess they were all hiding."

"Well that's a damn shame," his dad sighed with obvious disinterest. Kenny just nuzzled against the car door as they headed back through town towards the house. He stroked over the jar and wondered what it was that compelled him to keep his prize a secret. His parents might have been interested, maybe even proud of him for catching something so rare! But something in the back of his head was telling him that he needed to keep this one thing to himself, that they just might not understand.

That night, as he laid down in his worn, soiled mattress under the light of his window, the Queen to his side, he looked over at her in awe. She continued to dart around in fear, never seeming to run out of energy. He cocked his head, scooting closer to her and staring intensively. His brows furrowed as he noticed that she didn't look a bit like any other firefly, and not just for her color. He hadn't been _this _close to her as of yet, and was astonished with just how she looked. No, she didn't look like a firefly at all. In fact, she seemed almost..._human._

"What are you?" he whispered, grasping the jar and bringing it onto his pillow to continue his gazing. A quick glance over her body revealed more than he could believe. She seemed much bigger than before, but now, she only glowed purple with her wings. He couldn't see much else of her in the darkness before. But now, in the cast of moonlight, he could see legs, arms, a humanoid face, and long, stringy dark hair. Her wings fluttered like that of a dragonfly, long and elegant, shimmering reflections of her light bouncing off around the jar like he'd seen in the swimming pool he went to in the summer last year.

Suddenly, in the midst of her panicked flutter, she stopped and caught stares with that of her captor. She seemed scared, yet intrigued. Kenny could not make out much detail in her face due to her size, but he could clearly see deep red circles underneath her eyes. He cocked his head. It looked like she'd been crying, yet, there was no sadness on her face, only desperation. A part of him suddenly felt terrible, she had to have had _some _kind of importance. After all, he'd never seen anything quite like her, not in real life, anyway.

He remembered an old story that his mother had read to him when he was younger, the only book they could get their hands on. It was read to him until the oil from her fingers mused up the pages and the spine of the book crumbled, taking the words with it. He could only remember bits and pieces, however. A boy who wouldn't grow up, a magic land far, far away. And a little green girl who flew around and tormented humans. Until the end, that is.

His little eyes grew wide. "_You're a pixie_," he whispered, placing his index finger along side the glass. The girl stared curiously, edging up to against his finger and placing her tiny hand up to it. She stroked the glass curiously, cocking her head as she felt the smooth structure under her fingers. Her wings fluttered excitedly when she hit the spot her own light's reflection beamed onto. Kenny peered in through the side, seeing miniscule five fingers, just like his own. "Wow!" he yipped excitedly, tapping the metal lid in reflex. She jerked back against the other edge in surprise.

She pushed fallen hair back away from her eyes, her legs wobbling before she suddenly fell to her knees, collapsing down onto her side.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, the excitement draining almost instantaneously. "Are you okay?"

Her tiny dark eyes fell closed and she shuddered, her body convulsing like she was choking. Kenny yelped and unscrewed the lid in desperation. He threw it aside and tipped the jar slightly, letting the pixie fall into his hand. "Come on," he whispered, brushing her hair back with his fingernail. She continued thrusting her body around manically before he noticed an odd feeling on his hand. He peered under her as she lurched up once more, noticing that she seemed to be melting, parts of her wings and body sticking to his hand with the consistency of an egg yolk. "Oh no, oh no no no," he shook his head, trying to sit her up.

He heard her let out a soft voice, somewhat of a horrified and pained scream. It shook him to his core, despite how quiet she was. He could feel her agony ringing through his ears as he tried desperately to think of something that he could do. "Please, please don't melt," he pleaded, eyes beading with tears. She gasped again before Kenny could see her stomach being completely seared through. He watched in terror as the effects spread throughout her entire body, her face being consumed in the mess before the screaming stopped, and Kenny was left with a puddle of purple and flesh on his palm.

He grabbed his pillow, holding it against his mouth and screaming. What the heck had just happened?! '_Oh god I shouldn't have touched her!' _He thought. He peered at the glass jar, holding it against the light, strangely relieved when he found that parts of her were inside her holding as well. So it wasn't contact with him directly that made her die, but what else could it have been?! He felt movement on his hand and darted his eyes towards her puddle again, hopeful that she was merely re-emerging, like a phoenix. His hopes died as the puddle combusted into ash, and stayed as such for a good ten minutes before his pleas died out to reason. His eyes welled up once more as he gently poured the ashes back into the jar, staring at it on his pillow for a long while.

Something had told him not to tell anyone about it. And apparently his instinct was right, because no one would believe that he held a pixie in his palm when all he had to show for it was a tiny pile of dust.

* * *

A good thirteen years later, that jar still sat in his room, atop a shelf by itself above his desk. Kenny spent who knows how many hours looking at the ashes, every day waking up and hoping that the pixie would come back. A part of him thought that perhaps he should have disposed of her respectfully, but that instinct of his told him no, to hold on to her, lest not forget the truth.

He awoke one early summer morning to the sounds of his parents screaming and the sound of his father storming out of the house. "No doubt going to the bar," he rolled his eyes as he sat up, running his fingers through his messy blonde hair and groaning as he cracked his neck.

He glanced over beside his mattress at his phone plugged into the wall, pulling it off and seeing a text from his friend, Eric.

'_Po' bastard, get up!'_

He sighed, texting back, '_Jesus you're not my mom, Cartman. What's up."_

The phone automatically started ringing and he groaned once more, answering groggily,"Whaaaaat?"

"_Dude, get your ass down to my house."_

"Why, you finally get laid and wanna beer or somethin'?" he rubbed his eye tiredly.

"_No-I mean-...FUCK YOU ASSHOLE I GET LAID ALL THE TIME."_

"Tucked into bed by your mommy doesn't constitute as getting laid, Fatass," he teased.

"_Shut your poor mouth and get the fuck over here, Kinny. New video games are here."_

"Yeah, yeah, gimme about twenty minutes and I'll be there, Cartman. Haven't even had a chance to take a piss yet." He hung up the phone and sighed, shaking his head. Eric Cartman was his only friend in this godforsaken town but goddamn did he feel that he picked the short stick when it came to that guy sometimes.

He swung his legs out from under his blanket and got to his feet, running his fingers through his hair again as he grabbed jeans and a shirt from the floor and threw them on his desk chair. His clothes hit some books and sent them tumbling onto the floor. He peeled off his clothes then went over to grab what fell. His eyes landed on a drawing of a pixie he'd done and he couldn't help but glance at the jar hanging over him.

For years, he'd been trying to figure out what the fuck had happened that night, whether or not he dreamed it up as some repressed imagination from listening to his parents fight, or if he'd witnessed the single greatest anomaly in the history of the world.

From _Peter Pan _to _Tithe, _from countless mythology books to stories that kids had told him of seeing pixies for themselves, he'd been looking for years for his answers. His room was filled (in secret locations, of course) with drawings of that particular pixie he'd met. He'd named her Firefly in honor of their encounter. Maybe it was an insult to call her that, who knew, but she was the single light that he had found in the years of growing up with abuse and a tormented state of mind. Something always brought him back to her memory, and his dedication to finding just what it was that she was there for.

It was a secret he well-preserved, pulling off a perfect appearance of a nineteen year old who cursed, drank, smoked, cared about getting some ass now and then...but in reality, all he wanted were answers.

He pulled on his clothes quickly, straightening up the books on his desk and pushing his picture down into a locked drawer. Perhaps his secret was a little extreme, but no teenager wants to walk around with everyone taunting them that they believe in Disney tales and pixie dust. He wanted to do what Firefly did, just melt into them. Just blend in and don't let anyone think more or less of him for what he was.

He grabbed his backpack from his chair and swung it over his shoulder, heading out his door. "Ma, I'm going out!" he yelled.

"Yer gonna be late fer school!" she shouted back. He rolled his eyes. She was busy getting trashed judging by her slur.

"I graduated last year, Ma! I'm going to Cartman's!"

"All right...Try to git some food from him, will ya?"

A part of him stung to hear that again, knowing that his dad was busy blowing what money they had at the bar. "Y-yeah, Ma. I'll try!" He headed towards the front door and quickly made his way out, not wanting to spend any more time in that house than he had to. Cartman made for a shitty friend sometimes but at least it was an escape.

Before he left, he did what was now habit, looked back past his house into the woods, squinting his eyes in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, a light could spark into everything that he'd been praying to see again.

* * *

_**A/N: Yey I'm super excited for this story. Magic is fun. Nee and I have been shooting ideas around for this story the past few days and I'm rearing to get it going.**_

_**(And fyi, the Pixie was not Wendy, despite similarities. She'll come later in the story :3 )**_

_**Thanks for R&Ring!**_


End file.
